William Bairan grew up in Tampa, Florida during the Great Depression. His family was poor, but he describes his childhood as being wonderful. He and his friends played outside: football, baseball, hide and seek. His family lived in a small rented house without electricity. Most of the people that lived in his neighborhood were Spanish and spoke Spanish except while they were in school. In this interview he describes what it was like growing up in Florida during the 1930s. When he was about seventeen years old he listened on the radio as news of the bombing of Pearl Harbor was broadcast. Bairan recalls that, at first, few joined the military, but when men began to be drafted, more joined willingly. In 1942, he joined the Navy and left Florida for training in Maryland and Washington, D.C. He gave a very detailed description of his training and also tells of how, because of an injury, he was overlooked several times and did not ship out for quite some time. When he eventually did ship out, he was on convoy duty from New York to Guantanimo Bay. He then took a convoy to England where he was anchored at Plymouth until the invasion force was formed. On D-Day, Mr. Bairan was on a control ship about one mile from the beach. He says that he has “never seen so many people die.” His ship took on many wounded and passed them on to hospital ships. His account of D-Day is strong. After the invasion, he was stationed in England for a year and discusses what it was like there during and after the war. At the end of the interview he talks about the difficulties of finding a job once he returned home to the U.S. Mr. Bairan’s interview is very interesting and informative.-RPM
The Interview I just read was called The Hardy Family, where a woman, Mrs. Roe Remington, told the reader about her life. She was a housewife but also began a business to house the traveling public for the night. This business had helped the family earn a good amount of money where they bought a vacant lot and built a new house. The interviewer and Mrs. Roe Remington took a tour of the two houses describing them saying, “The rooms are attractively furnished, and well designed to please the comfort loving guest.”. In the end, Mrs. Roe Remington says, "Looking back over the busy years behind us, it is easy to understand why the house seemed lonely and why the demands upon our pocketbook have been so heavy, but little did we believe that we would end up in the tourist business and like it.". The Interviewer, to me, seemed like a nice person. I thought that since she captured the story clearly from Mrs. Roe Remington. -Allison_e
William Bairan grew up in Tampa, Florida during the Great Depression. His family was poor, but he describes his childhood as being wonderful. He and his friends played outside: football, baseball, hide and seek. His family lived in a small rented house without electricity. Most of the people that lived in his neighborhood were Spanish and spoke Spanish except while they were in school. In this interview he describes what it was like growing up in Florida during the 1930s. When he was about seventeen years old he listened on the radio as news of the bombing of Pearl Harbor was broadcast. Bairan recalls that, at first, few joined the military, but when men began to be drafted, more joined willingly. In 1942, he joined the Navy and left Florida for training in Maryland and Washington, D.C. He gave a very detailed description of his training and also tells of how, because of an injury, he was overlooked several times and did not ship out for quite some time. When he eventually did ship out, he was on convoy duty from New York to Guantanimo Bay. He then took a convoy to England where he was anchored at Plymouth until the invasion force was formed. On D-Day, Mr. Bairan was on a control ship about one mile from the beach. He says that he has “never seen so many people die.” His ship took on many wounded and passed them on to hospital ships. His account of D-Day is strong. After the invasion, he was stationed in England for a year and discusses what it was like there during and after the war. At the end of the interview he talks about the difficulties of finding a job once he returned home to the U.S. Mr. Bairan’s interview is very interesting and informative.-RPM
The Interview I just read was called The Hardy Family, where a woman, Mrs. Roe Remington, told the reader about her life. She was a housewife but also began a business to house the traveling public for the night. This business had helped the family earn a good amount of money where they bought a vacant lot and built a new house. The interviewer and Mrs. Roe Remington took a tour of the two houses describing them saying, “The rooms are attractively furnished, and well designed to please the comfort loving guest.”. In the end, Mrs. Roe Remington says, "Looking back over the busy years behind us, it is easy to understand why the house seemed lonely and why the demands upon our pocketbook have been so heavy, but little did we believe that we would end up in the tourist business and like it.". The Interviewer, to me, seemed like a nice person. I thought that since she captured the story clearly from Mrs. Roe Remington. -Allison_e